A wide variety of IMDs are known in the art. Of particular interest are implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) that deliver relatively high-energy cardioversion and/or defibrillation shocks to a patient's heart when a malignant tachyarrhythmia, e.g., atrial or ventricular fibrillation, is detected. The shocks are developed by discharge of one or more high voltage electrolytic capacitor that is charged up from an ICD battery. Current ICDs typically possess single or dual chamber pacing capabilities for treating specified chronic or episodic atrial and/or ventricular bradycardia and tachycardia and were referred to previously as pacemaker/cardioverter/defibrillators (PCDs). Earlier developed automatic implantable defibrillators (AIDs) did not have cardioversion or pacing capabilities. For purposes of the present invention ICDs are understood to encompass all such IMDs having at least high voltage cardioversion and/or defibrillation capabilities.
Energy, volume, thickness and mass are critical features in the design of ICD implantable pulse generators (IPGs) that are coupled to the ICD leads. The battery(s) and high voltage capacitor(s) used to provide and accumulate the energy required for the cardioversion/defibrillation shocks have historically been relatively bulky and expensive. Presently, ICD IPGs typically have a volume of about 40 to about 60 cc, a thickness of about 13 mm to about 16 mm and a mass of approximately 100 grams.
It is desirable to reduce the volume, thickness and mass of such capacitors and ICD IPGs without reducing deliverable energy. Doing so is beneficial to patient comfort and minimizes complications due to erosion of tissue around the ICD IPG. The high voltage capacitor(s) are among the largest components that must be enclosed within the ICD IPG housing. Reductions in size of the capacitors may also allow for the balanced addition of volume to the battery, thereby increasing longevity of the ICD IPG, or balanced addition of new components, thereby adding functionality to the ICD IPG. It is also desirable to provide such ICD IPGs at low cost while retaining the highest level of performance. At the same time, reliability of the capacitors cannot be compromised.
Various types of flat and spiral-wound capacitors are known in the art, some examples of which are described as follows and/or may be found in the patents listed in Table 1 of commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,133. Typically, an electrolytic capacitor is fabricated with a capacitor case enclosing a “valve metal” (e.g., aluminum) anode layer (or “electrode”), a valve metal (e.g. aluminum) cathode layer (or “electrode”), and a Kraft paper or fabric gauze spacer or separator impregnated with a solvent based liquid electrolyte interposed therebetween. The aluminum anode layer is typically fabricated from aluminium foil that is first etched and then “formed” by passage of electrical current through the anode layer to oxidize the etched surfaces so that the aluminium oxide functions as a dielectric layer. The electrolyte comprises an ion producing salt that is dissolved in a solvent and provides ionic electrical conductivity between the cathode layer and the aluminum oxide dielectric layer. The energy of the capacitor is stored in the electromagnetic field generated by opposing electrical charges separated by the aluminum oxide layer disposed on the surface of the anode layer and is proportional to the surface area of the etched aluminum anode layer. Thus, to minimize the overall volume of the capacitor one must maximize anode surface area per unit volume without increasing the capacitor's overall (i.e., external) dimensions. The separator material, anode and cathode layer terminals, internal packaging, electrical interconnections, and alignment features and cathode material further increase the thickness and volume of a capacitor. Consequently, these and other components in a capacitor and the desired capacitance limit the extent to which its physical dimensions may be reduced.
Some ICD IPGs employ commercial photoflash capacitors similar to those described by Troup in “Implantable Cardioverters and Defibrillators,” Current Problems in Cardiology, Volume XIV, Number 12, December 1989, Year Book Medical Publishers, Chicago, and as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,775. The electrodes or anode and cathodes are wound into anode and cathode layers separated by separator layers of the spiral. Most commercial photoflash capacitors contain a core of separator paper intended to prevent brittle, highly etched aluminum anode foils from fracturing during winding of the anode, cathode, and separator layers into a coiled configuration. The cylindrical shape and paper core of commercial photoflash capacitors limits the volumetric packaging efficiency and thickness of an ICD IPG housing made using same.
More recently developed ICD IPGs employ one or more flat or “prismatic”, high voltage, electrolytic capacitor to overcome some of the packaging and volume disadvantages associated with cylindrical photoflash capacitors. Flat aluminum electrolytic capacitors for use in ICD IPGs have been disclosed, e.g., those improvements described in “High Energy Density Capacitors for Implantable Defibrillators” presented by P. Lunsmann and D. MacFarlane at CARTS 96: 16th Capacitor and Resistor Technology Symposium, 11-15 Mar. 1996, and at CARTS-EUROPE 96: 10th European Passive Components Symposium., 7-11 Oct. 1996, pp. 35-39. Further features of flat electrolytic capacitors for use in ICD IPGs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,942,501; 5,086,374; 5,131,388; 5,146,391; 5,153,820; 5,522,851, 5,562,801; 5,628,801; and 5,748,439, all issued to MacFarlane et al.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,131,388 and 5,522,851 disclose a flat capacitor having a plurality of stacked capacitor layers each comprising an “electrode stack sub-assembly”. Each capacitor layer contains one or more anode sheet forming an anode layer having an anode tab, a cathode sheet or layer having a cathode tab and a separator for separating the anode layer from the cathode layer.
Electrical performance of such electrolytic capacitors is affected by the surface area of the anode and cathode layers and also by the resistance associated with the electrolytic capacitor itself, called the equivalent series resistance (ESR). The ESR is a “hypothetical” series resistance that represents all energy losses of an electrolytic capacitor regardless of source. The ESR results in a longer charge time (or larger build factor) and lower discharge efficiency. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the ESR to a minimum.
Typically, ESR is minimized by fabricating the anode layer of each capacitor layer from highly etched valve metal foil, e.g., aluminum foil, that has a microscopically contoured, etched surface with a high concentration of pores extending part way through the anode foil along with tunnels extending all the way through the anode foil (through-etched or tunnel-etched) or only with a high concentration of pores extending part way through the anode foil (nonthrough-etched. In either case, such a through-etched or nonthrough-etched anode sheet cut from such highly etched foil exhibit a total surface area much greater than its nominal (length times width) surface area. A surface area coefficient, the ratio of the microscopic true surface area to the macroscopic nominal area, may be as high as 100:1, which advantageously increases capacitance. Through-etched or tunnel-etched anode sheets exhibit a somewhat lower ratio due to the absence of a web or barrier surface closing the tunnel as in nonthrough-etched anode sheets.
After the aluminum foil is etched, the aluminum oxide layer on the etched surface is “formed” by applying voltage to the foil through an electrolyte such as boric acid or citric acid and water or other solutions familiar to those skilled in the state of the art. Typically, individual anode sheets are punched, stamped or otherwise cut out of the foil in a shape to conform to the capacitor package following formation of the aluminum oxide on the foil. The cut edges around the periphery of the anode sheets are carefully cleaned to remove particulates of anode material that can get caught between the capacitor layers in the electrode stack assembly resulting in a high leakage current or capacitor failure. Anode layers comprise either a single anode sheet or multiple anode sheets. Stacking the anode layer, separator layers, and cathode layer together assembles capacitor layers, and electrode stack assemblies are assembled by stacking a plurality of capacitor layers together, separated by separator layers. The cut edges of the anode and cathode layers and any other exposed aluminum are then reformed in the capacitor during the aging process to reduce leakage current. In order to increase capacitance (and energy density), multiple anode sheets are stacked together to form the multiple sheet anode layer as described above. Through-etched or tunnel-etched anode sheets need to be used in such multiple sheet anode layers to ensure that electrolyte is distributed over all of the aluminum oxide layers of the sandwiched inner anode sheets and to provide a path for ionic communication. But, then the gain in surface area is not as high as that which can be achieved with a like number of stacked nonthrough-etched anode sheets that have a remaining solid section in their center.
For example, the '890 patent discloses the use of an anode layer fabricated from a highly etched center sheet with a solid core and two tunnel-etched anode sheets sandwiching the center sheet. This arrangement is intended to allow the electrolyte, and thus the conducting ions, to reach all surface areas of the three-sheet anode layer while preventing the ions from passing all the way through the anode layer. More than three tunnel etched anode sheets can be used in the anode layer depending on the desired electrical performance.
The aluminum oxide layers electrically isolate the aluminum sheets of the aluminum layer from each other, and an electrical connection must be made between the underlying aluminum valve metal of each anode sheet of the anode layer. In one approach, each anode sheet of each anode layer is fabricated with an outwardly projecting anode tab. The tabs of the anode layers and the cathode layers of all of the capacitor layers of the stack are electrically connected in parallel to form a single capacitor or grouped to form a plurality of capacitors. The attached aluminum anode sheet tabs are electrically connected to a feedthrough pin of an anode feedthrough extending through the case or compartment wall. The anode tabs that are fabricated integrally with the anode sheets are also etched and anodized with the anode sheets and rendered brittle making it difficult to bend the anode tabs together or toward one unless the tab areas are masked during etching. In the above-referenced '851 patent, each of the anode sheet tabs are welded together and then welded to a post of a feedthrough pin. The single sheet cathode layers are also fabricated with cathode tabs that are also gathered together and electrically connected to a feedthrough pin of a cathode feedthrough extending through the case or compartment wall or connected to the electrically conductive capacitor case wall. The bending of the tabs is minimized but they take up space.
In a further approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,931, a flat capacitor is assembled from a stack of anode layers and cathode sheets separated from one another by a separator. Each of the anode layers is a single anode sheet, and anode tabs and cathode tabs are integrally part of the respective anode and cathode sheets. Separators are inserted between each of the anode layers and cathode layers. The edges of the anode and cathode layers and separators are taped together to hold them in alignment. Then, at least the anode tabs are brought together and laser welded to one another and to a feedthrough wire. The anode tabs are fabricated with wire receiving weld notches in the tab ends so that the wire can be fitted into the weld notches to extend normally to the brought together stack of anode tabs. The wire is then laser welded in that position. An electrical connection of the stacked anode layers is made in this way through the welded wire and tab of each single sheet, anode layer. The laser weld does not hold the stacked assembly together or couple anode sheets together into an anode layer.
In further U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,292, a porous pellet capacitor anode is prepared for welding of an anode tab by laser welding a surface area to fuse that area. The anode tab is then welded to the prepared area.
Capacitor volume can be reduced slightly by interposing and welding a shared anode tab in between two adjacent anode sheets in the anode stack, as described, for example, in the above-referenced '388 patent. No particular method of welding is disclosed, and the interposed stack of anode tabs would thicken and distort the anode sheet stack making it difficult to fit into a flat-sided capacitor housing.
In another approach described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,890, the center anode sheet of a three-sheet anode layer is fabricated with an inward recess into which an anode tab is inserted. The three anode sheets are joined together at a distance from the anode tab by using cold welding, although laser welding and arc welding are mentioned as alternatives without detail.
In the above-referenced '133 patent, a single anode tab is fitted into a slot of one of the stacked anode sheets and attached to one or more of the adjoining anode sheets by cold welding. The anode sheets are cold welded together at more than one location by use of a press and press fixture having spring-loaded or pneumatically driven cold weld pins that extend through pin bores of a top plate and a base plate bearing against the uppermost and lowermost exposed surfaces of the stack of anode sheets to be cold welded together.
By necessity, the joinder of anode sheets together to form multi-sheet anode layers and to separate anode tabs by such techniques must break through the oxide layer over the exposed etched surfaces of the anode sheets and fill or compress the underlying etched surface until the valve metals of the sheet cores are in intimate contact such that a low resistance electrical connection is achieved. Typically, it is necessary to provide multiple attachment sites to provide redundancy, which increases reliability. But breaking through the etched oxide layers of the multiple sheets in multiple places reduces the overall capacitance. Moreover, the attachment techniques can damage the etched oxide layers adjacent to the points of attachment or across the exposed outermost surfaces of the outermost sheets of the anode layer.
Thus, there is a need for further reducing capacitor volume, increasing capacitor reliability, and reducing cost and complexity of the capacitor manufacturing process, for multi-sheet anode layer capacitors used in ICDs and other IMDs and other electric circuit applications.